Crayola Crayon Day – March 31, 2025

History of Crayola Crayon Day

Crayola crayons were first introduced in 1903 in Easton, Pennsylvania. Binney & Smith Company developed a colored stick that was both durable and affordable, as well as child-safe and non-toxic. Alice Binney, Edwin Binney’s wife, came up with the name Crayola by combining the French words ‘craie,’ which implies ‘chalk,’ and ‘oleaginous’ which means ‘oily’. No. 51, Young Artists’ Drawing Crayons, for Coloring Maps and Pictures was the name of the original Crayola set. Celestial blue, golden ochre, rose pink, and burnt sienna were among the 28 colors used.

Simpler colors became more popular throughout time, while the more complex ones were phased out. Celestial blue, golden ochre, rose pink, and burnt sienna were all discontinued in 1910. Purple and violet crayons were split in 1914, while gold, silver, and copper were removed from the range in 1915.

When Binney & Smith purchased the Munsell Color Company’s coloring method in 1926, Crayola crayons became a household name. This was the first time they used the color wheel idea in their crayons, which contained the five primary colors of red, yellow, green, blue, and purple. They introduced the six intermediate colors — red-orange, yellow-orange, yellow-green, blue-green, blue-violet, and red-violet — in 1930, as well as adding orange to their primary colors. This was later transformed into the 12-color box. They added black, neutral gray, white, and brown to create a box of 16 hues. Munsell Crayola boxes, on the other hand, were phased out in 1935 because of wartime shortages. Despite this, until 1990, the Munsell coloring scheme was an important element of the Crayola corporation. There are around 120 Crayola crayon colors available today, all of which are derived from primary colors.